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<title>off-course by essektheylyss (midnightindigo)</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27653138">off-course</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightindigo/pseuds/essektheylyss'>essektheylyss (midnightindigo)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Critical Role (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blood, Injury, M/M, Post-Combat, Teleportation Mishaps</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 20:53:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>766</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27653138</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightindigo/pseuds/essektheylyss</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In the panic of a bad battle, Caleb and a dying Essek get separated from the group.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>160</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>off-course</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Posted this on tumblr a while ago for ayzenigma, who inspired this!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The echo of his own words across the chasm still ring in his ears as the floor vanishes out from under him, lurching forward, one hand clutching fabric that he can’t see and the other pressing into a gash on his thigh that pulses with blood. </p>
<p>Reality twists around them as his heart flutters anxiously with every rush of blood against his hand, and he prays he hasn’t thrown them off course—he’s not sure how much more either of them can stand.</p>
<p>When his feet hit the ground, they are too solid, and it takes him a moment to realize that the sound and force has been matched by Essek’s; it takes half a second more to understand what that means, that Essek does not have enough energy to keep off the ground.</p>
<p>They are not in the Lavish Chateau—in his unfocused panic, only the vaguest idea of Nicodranas swam through, and they collapse against the wood of a half-rotted pier that he recognizes as being a few miles north of the city, and the only thing he sees is the city in the distance before Essek’s weight falls against the arm that is still clutching at the back of his cloak.</p>
<p>Essek mouths wordlessly, his chest riddled with wounds, his breath wheezing around the jewel in his nose, and Caleb presses a hand to the wounds, eliciting a hiss that wracks his body like a snake.</p>
<p>“<i>Essek—</i>“ he breathes, and then stares around them, though there is nothing but an empty beach. “<i>Jester!</i>”</p>
<p>She is two miles away by now, with no way for him to contact her, and Essek is near collapse beneath his bloodied hands, oozing into the fabric of both of their clothes. The gaping wound in his own leg feels like little more than a sting as Essek’s fingers scrabble for purchase on the lapels of his coat.</p>
<p>“Caleb,” he stammers, around the blood and the pain threatening to pull him under. “Caleb, I have— I have—“ </p>
<p>Caleb sweeps one arm around his waist, keeping him upright with his own body as leverage, and presses the other to Essek’s bloodied face. “What? What is it?” He knows he can catch a soul before it’s left a body, but he has no way to heal before it reaches that point, and he can feel his anxious pulse pounding in his ears as he fumbles at Essek’s shoulder— his neck— his cheek— fingers searching desperately for the runes to make him whole again, but they are not runes he knows.</p>
<p>Essek’s eyes are wide and unfocused, darting over his face, and he can’t bring the words to his tongue to finish his sentence. His feet kick at the wood boards they’re resting on to find leverage and, with a frustrated growl in the back of his throat, he throws himself forward to press his lips to Caleb’s, who freezes in shock.</p>
<p>When he pulls away, his hand clasps the neck of a vial, and he pulls out the cork with his teeth and drinks the potion down. Enough strength to stand comes to him, though he leans heavily on Caleb’s shoulder, Caleb’s arm still held tight around his waist and the other slowly wrapping around his torso, neither of them speaking for a moment as the healing energy in the liquid permeates through his body, and he rests his forehead against the hard edge of Caleb’s collarbone. The panic subsides after a moment, but pressed together, their heartbeats still reverberate around their skin like tolling bells. </p>
<p>“Veth… Veth gave me that for <i>you</i>,” he hisses into Caleb’s bloody shirt with a hollow laugh. “It was in…”</p>
<p>“In a pocket dimension,” Caleb echoes, finishing his sentence, and Essek wipes the last of the clumsily-consumed liquid from his mouth on the back of his wrist.</p>
<p>“Yes,” he agrees. “And I couldn’t… couldn’t focus enough to get to it. And your panic was not helping.”</p>
<p>“So you kissed me to shut me up long enough for you to heal yourself?”</p>
<p>“Don’t look so affronted, I kiss you on many other occasions as well.”</p>
<p>“That was…..” Caleb grins, slowly, as his pulse begins to slow and he can start to remind himself that they’re alive—<i>they’re alive</i>. They should probably start moving back toward the city, to reconvene with the others and get his own wounds looked at by one of the clerics, but they just stand here, clinging to each other, a slight tremble echoing between them as it settles in how very fucked they could’ve been. “That was very hot.”</p>
<p>“Oh, shut up.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hope you enjoyed!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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